Dear Good Shepherd Community Church Family,

It is the holiday season once again - All types of parties, Thanksgiving, Christmas, family and the spirit of thankfulness and generosity that seems to swell up in our society. There’s something about this time of year that makes me think about others a little more than usual. It reminds me that we are blessed to be a blessing!

Over the past year we have shared together in some very significant events at GSCC. We have seen hundreds of people come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior this past year. We celebrated over 70 baptisms and had countless people receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We have dedicated a new generation of babies to the Lord. We saw over 300 of children from our city and surrounding areas attend our VBS, and we have impacted children and families at Benavides Elementary though Operation Blessing. The number of people in attendance on a regular basis has increased as well.

We as a congregation have so much to be thankful for and The Gift Offering is a special opportunity for us to put our thankfulness, generosity and faith into action, showing our church family and our community the love of Jesus Christ. In this season of giving we want our largest and most extravagant gifts to go to building God’s Kingdom. This year The Gift Offering will be used to fund continued facility updates and various ministry projects locally, nationally and internationally.

The Gift Offering received last year allowed us to replace and repair the roof of the church and activity center, HVAC repair and maintenance, paint the entire outside church facility, upgrade technology, renovate the activity center to help create a dynamic facility to impact our student ministries. We have continued renovation of the Café area and Activity Center by enclosing the platform area/auditorium to create a more intimate place of worship with plans to add a seating lounge to the Café.

This year's Gift Offering will be use for continued painting of the interior church facility, ongoing HVAC maintenance and replacement, continued facility upkeep/updates, technology upgrades, i.e. video cameras for production of our Sunday service, as well as ministry related projects such as: One Day To Feed Brownsville, mission support to an orphanage in the mountain village of La Joya, MX, Managua, Nicaragua, Somebody Cares Intl., Tim and Sara Outlaw, Joshua and Amy Barnard, Pastoral Training in China and Tanzania through WIN Ministries.

On Sunday, December 13, 2015, we will receive The Gift Offering during both of our celebration services. We’re encouraging everyone to come prepared to give their best gift that day in order to help us accomplish the vision for the year 2016.

If you won’t be at church on December 13, or if you’d like to give now, please stop by the church office or mail your gift with a note in the memo section of your check: The Gift Offering 2015. You may also give online at GSCCConnect.com. Be sure to select the dropdown for “The Gift Offering.” For your gift to be tax deductible for 2015, it must be received by noon on December 31, 2015.

Please pray about the extravagant gift God would have you bring and join with us in stewarding our church home, reaching our community for Jesus Christ and advancing His Kingdom locally, nationally and internationally. We are entering a season where it is “Time to Climb” and your gift will make all the difference!

Together We Can,

Pastor Richard Hinojosa